Show me ... something odd

Offbeat attractions line roadways of Carthage-Branson area in southwestern Missouri

Heading to Branson?

As you drive through southwest Missouri, there are some oddly fun things well worth a pause, such as:

If you go

Precious Moments Chapel, 4321 S. Chapel Road, Carthage, Mo. (800) 543-7975, preciousmomentschap…. Free.

Red Oak II, Carthage, Mo. Go east on Missouri 96, left on County Road 130, follow signs, (417) 237-0808. redoakiimissouri.com. Free.

JR’s Western Store, with the world’s largest small electric appliance museum, 51 Missouri 59 South, Diamond, Mo. (417) 358-2007, jrswesternstores.com. Free.

George Washington Carver National Monument, 5646 Carver Road, Diamond, Mo. (417) 325-4151, nps.gov/gwca. Free.

Ralph Foster Museum, College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Mo. (417) 690-3407, www.rfostermuseum.c…, $6 adults, $5 senior citizens. High school age and younger free.

Titanic, 3235 W. 76 Country Blvd., Branson, (800) 381-7670, titanicattraction.c…, $27 at box office.

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! 3326 W. 76 Country Blvd., Branson, (417) 337-5300, ripleys.com/branson, $17.99 adults, $9.99 children 4-12, plus tax.

A giant gunslinger in the sky in Butler. The Clampetts' truck from TV's The Beverly Hillbillies in Point Lookout. A chapel awash in Precious Moments artwork in Carthage. The world's largest small electric appliance museum outside Carthage -- toasters as far as the eye can see! A stunning National Park Service site you probably don't know about. And more!

Selfie possibilities abound.

Branson has its own quirkiness. The Titanic. A giant banjo. The world's largest ball of string. A 40-foot-tall rooster.

How can you resist?

MAD MAX

They call him Max at the dealership. Getting a look at the 30-foot-tall mascot, six-shooters drawn and comically snarly, is a quick stop off Interstate 49. You may know Max Motors from God, Guns and Automobiles on the History Channel.

Don't worry if you miss Max in Butler. There's another Max about 30 miles away in Nevada. He's visible from I-49. And "Nevada" is pronounced the odd Missouri way, with a long "a" in the middle.

PRECIOUS MOMENTS

At Carthage, signs on the way to the chapel are persuasive: "Fill your heart with peace," "Stop and smell the flowers."

You totally should.

At 76, artist Sam Butcher, creator of the Precious Moments figurine children, continues to alter and add to the biblical and heavenly scenes he has painted on the interior walls and ceiling of the soaring chapel.

Chapel supervisor Cindy Howrey says he recently repainted the clouds on the ceiling's periphery, switching the color from blue to purple.

The whole thing can feel a bit odd, all those murals of Precious Moments children depicting well-known Bible figures. But it's colorful and meaningful to the many who visit from across the country and the world.

"This has been Mr. Butcher's way to thank God for his blessings," Howrey says on a chapel tour, which is free.

POLES, WILD KINGDOM

Driving into Carthage from the chapel, I stopped briefly at Jackson Tire and Auto on East Central Avenue.

A metal sculpture on a platform depicts a rusty pickup with a man in the cab, a dog in the back and a bedraggled woman changing the back tire. Then there's the caption: "It ain't no wonder his wives left him."

Could it get any better? It does. On the way out of town on Missouri 96 to Red Oak II, the reassembled "Americana" town, another metal sculpture on a pole soars outside the Flying W convenience store.

It's a plane made out of an old manure spreader, with a metal "KC Chiefs" attached to the tail.

I stopped in Central Park on South Garrison Avenue to see a statue of Carthage native Marlin Perkins, the star of TV's Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. No sign of co-host Jim Fowler.

RED OAK II

Those playful pole-topping sculptures are the work of Lowell Davis, who in recent years has saved and transported antique buildings to his circa 1930s town on a former corn patch outside Carthage. It's an impressive historical collection that includes gas stations, country churches, stores, a town hall and a blacksmith shop.

Davis and his wife, Rose, live in the transplanted home of outlaw Belle Starr. Don't miss Davis' confounding "Plumber's Nightmare" fountain out front.

As I was the only visitor this midweek day, I felt a bit like I was on an empty Hollywood movie set. It was still and quiet, except for the sounds of wandering chickens and guinea fowl.

A tour can be arranged by leaving a message on the Red Oak II Facebook page. The name is an homage to nearby Red Oak, where Davis lived as a child.

ELECTRIFYING MUSEUM

JR's Western Store, south of Carthage toward Diamond on Missouri 59, is an excellent stop to pick up a pair of cowboy boots.

But past the boots and through a doorway, there are 1,200 square feet of small electric appliances, shined up and lined up in glass cases. Some 3,500 in all, collected by owner Richard Larrison.

Toasters -- including more than 700 here, some dating to the early 1900s -- have been referred to as pinchers, tippers, flippers, droppers, swingers and flatbeds, to name a few types, depending on the how the mechanism works.

All manner of appliances are celebrated, including blenders, razors, hair dryers, coffee percolators and an array of waffle irons. Larrison is sometimes available to meet visitors.

CARVER NATIONAL MONUMENT

George Washington Carver is the former slave who became a renowned scientist. Think peanuts.

His national monument is just west of Diamond, and it is a gorgeous respite. A 1-mile trail loops through sun-dappled woods, past wildflowers and over streams.

This was the farm of Moses and Susan Carver, who owned George and his mother as slaves and later adopted George. A statue of George as a boy is along the trail.

"Somewhere in these woods is the site of a secret garden," reads a trail plaque. "Imagine a young boy spending hours by himself there -- looking, learning, cultivating, thinking and trying new remedies to make his collection of flowers flourish."

CLAMPETTS' TRUCK

The Clampett truck from the TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies is at the Ralph Foster Museum at the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, about 5 miles from Branson. The museum bills itself as the "Smithsonian of the Ozarks."

A sign says the Clampetts' famous vehicle "is made from a cut down 1921 Oldsmobile." But it's all there: Granny's rocking chair and rifle, a mattress spring, wooden buckets, a lantern. Visitors can climb aboard if they pay $10.56 for the museum staff to take their picture.

The museum has a little bit of everything, including a wood-carved hall tree of Theodore Roosevelt, an 1894 steam engine, an Ozarks pioneer cabin, an Ozarks music hall of fame and lots of taxidermied animals.

BIG ROOSTER

Branson has an enormous rooster standing at the entrance of the Great American Steak & Chicken House restaurant. You walk between his legs to get in the door. With his star-spangled vest and bow tie, he's a patriotically dapper 43-foot-tall rooster.

TITANIC

Then you see it. The Titanic. A giant fake iceberg, too.

Touring the Titanic is very cool, if pricey. I loved learning that powering the ship required 29 three-story boilers, 159 furnaces and 325 men working in shifts around the clock -- shoveling coal nonstop.

Your ticket bears the name of a Titanic passenger, and later you find out whether you survived. My guy, Charles Hays, didn't.

BELIEVE IT ...

How could I resist stopping at Ripley's Believe It or Not!? It has a portrait of Vincent van Gogh painted on the wings of butterflies!

I made a beeline for the "world's largest string ball." Made of colorful nylon twine, it measures more than 42 feet around and weighs 6 tons. Cawker City, Kan., claims it has the world's largest ball of twine. Several make the "largest" claim. Some diss Ripley's string ball because it isn't made of sisal twine.

If you're not impressed, "the world's largest roll of toilet paper" is nearby. It weighs close to 4,000 pounds!

BIG!

Branson is a cornucopia of things large. Don't miss the Mount Rushmore of John Wayne, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Charlie Chaplin looking down on the parking lot at the Hollywood Wax Museum, itself topped by King Kong and the New York skyline.

A giant fiddle? Yup. Inside and outside the front wall of Grand Country Buffet.

A big banjo? Right next door at the Grand Country Fun Spot, where Sergio Valle, 13; Lillie Parker, 13; and Brianna Johnson, 14; were preparing a surprise birthday party.

After they walked around the banjo, I had to ask:

"Isn't it weird living here around all this odd stuff?"

"It's Branson," Lillie said.

Travel on 09/06/2015

Upcoming Events